Sotirios Boulgaris, born in an Aromanian village known as Kalarites, a son of Bulgarian immigrants, began his career as a jeweller in his home village Paramythia[2] (Epirus, Greece), where his first store can still be seen. In 1877, he left for Corfu and then Naples. In 1881 he finally moved to Rome, where in 1884 he founded his company and opened his second shop in Via Sistina. The store in Via Sistina was then replaced by the current flagship store in Via dei Condotti opened in 1905 by Bulgari with the help of his two sons, Costantino (1889–1973) and Giorgio (1890–1966).[citation needed]
A Bulgari shop in Baku, Azerbaijan
During the Second World War, Costantino Bulgari and his wife Laura hid three Jewish women in their own Roman home. They were strangers to them; the Bulgaris opened their doors out of outrage for the raid of the Roman ghetto in October 1943. For their generous action, on 31 December 2003, they were awarded the title of Righteous among the Nations at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.[3]